Exclusive: Pfizer-BioNTech Agrees to Provide WHO Co-Led COVID-19 Vaccine Program – Sources

LONDON / FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Pfizer and BioNTech have agreed to supply their COVID-19 vaccine to the COVAX vaccine access program co-led by the World Health Organization, said two sources familiar with the deal, the latest to ‘a series of plans to be included in the project for low-income countries.

The deal is expected to be announced on Friday, according to the sources, who declined to be named due to the confidentiality of the deal.

Details on the size of the deal or the price per dose COVAX would pay were not immediately clear, but sources said the award would likely be relatively small. A source said the reason for the limited volume was that the doses were primarily intended for healthcare workers in countries served by COVAX.

BioNTech declined to comment while Pfizer did not respond to requests for comment. Spokesmen for the WHO and the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, which co-leads the COVAX program, also declined to comment.

WHO Senior Advisor Bruce Aylward said on Monday the COVAX program was in “very detailed discussions” with Pfizer, which has already committed hundreds of millions of doses this year in several wealthy countries and is expected to be able to include the vaccine. in COVAX. soon”.

The COVAX program is expected to start distributing COVID-19 vaccines to poor and middle-income countries in February.

Ukraine said earlier Thursday that its first delivery of COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX program could arrive in the first half of February – with 210,000 doses of Moderna, Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines.

COVAX has said it hopes to deliver more than 2 billion doses of COVID-19 to the world this year. In an updated forecast released on Thursday, it announced it plans to deliver around 1.8 billion doses in 2021 to 92 poorest countries, covering around 27% of their population.

The program – led by the WHO, the GAVI Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) – was put in place last year as poorer countries would lose out while rich countries were scrambling to get COVID-19 vaccines to vaccinate their populations. .

COVAX has so far secured future vaccine supplies from AstraZeneca, in collaboration with the University of Oxford; the Serum Institute of India (SII) as well as with Sanofi and its partner GSK. It also has a memorandum of understanding on deliveries from Johnson & Johnson.

The Pfizer deal would be COVAX’s second, after the one with AstraZeneca, which covers a product with regulatory approval in certain countries.

Pfizer’s additional commitment comes as frustration grows in European countries over the unexpected reduction in supplies from the US drugmaker. Pfizer said last week it would cut deliveries until early February to improve production capacity for a subsequent increase in production.

The Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is the only vaccine to date to have obtained WHO approval for the emergency use list.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that the WHO plans to approve several COVID-19 vaccines from Western and Chinese manufacturers in the weeks and months to come, as it aims for rapid deployment in poorer countries.

BioNTech and Pfizer this month declared their goal of delivering 2 billion doses of the vaccine this year, up from a previous target of 1.3 billion.

Making them is more complicated to transport and store, requiring ultra-cold freezers, which may not be practical for poorer countries with hot climates.